Military Test Provides Career Guidance, Researchers Find

Educators looking to prod high school students into thinking more
deeply about career choices might take a cue from the military,
according to researchers from the American Institutes for Research.

Investigators for the Washington think tank based their advice on a
study of a testing program given by the military each year to about 1
million students.

The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery Career Exploration
Program, or ASVAB, is primarily a recruitment and placement tool. But
any student can take the two-hour test and fill out the accompanying
survey to find out what occupations match his or her interests and
abilities.

As a way of getting a foot in the door, military recruiters will
even visit the school to help students interpret the results and to
provide career information.

The AIR researchers evaluated the program during the 1994-95 school
year for the U.S. Department of Defense's manpower data center.

What they found was that the program is an effective way to get
students--many of whom receive little formal career counseling--to
think hard about what they want to be when they grow up and what they
need to do to get there.

"One might say high school students are in real need of career
guidance, and this program really fills that need," said Roger Levine,
who directed the portion of the study that focused on the program's
impact on students. Other researchers looked at the program's
effectiveness as a recruiting device.

'Career Maturity'

Mr. Levine and his colleagues presented their findings here last
week during the annual meeting of the American Educational Research
Association.

As part of the study, the researchers surveyed 1,100 students in 48
high schools across the country at three points during their school
careers: just before they took the tests, at the close of the semester
in which they were tested, and again almost a year later, when most
were seniors.

The students' responses were compared with those of students at 12
randomly chosen high schools where no ASVAB program was offered. The
researchers also surveyed 300 guidance counselors to see if their
responses matched up with those of the students.

"The bottom line story is that, after the test, kids who
participated in ASVAB showed significant improvement in terms of their
career maturity," Mr. Levine said. In other words, they were a little
more certain about their career choices. Those students were more
informed about the kinds of skills or preparation required for their
chosen careers and were more likely to have talked with a school
counselor or a military recruiter, for example.

"Usually a program effect dissipates hours, days, or weeks later,"
Mr. Levine added. "But a year later, when we looked at
career-exploration behaviors, we found these effects were persistent,
and there was the suggestion that they became more profound with the
passage of time."

This was true, the researchers said, even after they took into
account the fact that students were a year older and might naturally be
more interested in deciding on a career path.

And the counselors confirmed that ASVAB students were indeed seeking
out career advice in greater numbers.

Moreover, the program seemed to have the same effect on students
regardless of their race, their gender, or whether they were enrolled
in an academic track or a general education track.

"I was really shocked that I was able to demonstrate an effect so
easily," Mr. Levine said.